Thursday, May 22, 2008

IPL and controversies

have gone hand in hand from its inception

IPL controversy 1

Starting with the media rights on the coverage of the IPL. All the TV channels threatened to boycott the coverage of the IPL protesting against exclusive use rights given to Sony Network. Moreover Lalti Modi initially refused to discuss the issue with them. There were some other contentious conditions life newspapers covering the IPL were supposed to upload all the photographs taken by them on the IPL website within 24 Hours failing which they will not be allowed to cover next matches. Also there was a cap on the number of photos that can be used by the newspapers and news agencies on their website.

IPL controversy 2

After all these issues were sorted out came the issue of the eligibility of Shoiab Akhtar for IPL. PCB has banned Shoiab Akhtar for 5 years to represent Pakistan but as a professional player he was elligible to play for Kolkata Knight Riders. BCCI didn't want to create any problem so asked him to get a permission from PCB failing which he was not allowed to play for KolKata Knight Riders. Only a week back PCB has stayed the order by a month and new enquiry will take place after that. Due to this he is now available to Knight Riders for selection but totally match unfit. Looks like Shah Rukh Khan must have put his weight to get this done.

IPL controversy 3

The biggest contravarsey of the IPL so far has been Harbhajan-Sreeshanth slap-gate issue.After slapping Harbhajan Singh with a ban of 11 IPL matches, there is every chance that he might get a severe ban from BCCI. It has been difficult for BCCI to handle Harbhajan Singh from the beginning of his international career as there have been numerous complaints against him from all quarters. Recently he was involved in a Monkey-gate scam where he got timely support from his team members especially Sachin Tendulkar. People wonder why Sachin supports Harbhajan so much. He even preferred Harbhajan Singh over seasoned campaigner like Pollock for captaincy of Mumbai Indians. The irony is that under the captaincy of Pollock only Mumbai Indians have shown some resilience and spirit to win matches. Coming back to the behavior of Harbhajan Singh on-field and outside the field has been nothing but shocking and embarrassing for the home board and the national team that has always supported him in all the situations. I feel the recent slap-gate case against Harbhajan Singh should be handled very carefully as this incident has made a mockery of BCCI in Australia with Australian media bringing to frontline the incidents that happened in the recent Indian tour of Australia and the way they were dictated by the cricket-power house, BCCI. It is high time that BCCI takes a tough stand and sends out a strong statement that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated any more. A ban for a year will be more than welcomed by all quarters of cricket loving people.

IPL controversy 4

There have been couple of instances of light towers malfunctioning. The first one at Eden Gardens helped the home team to re-group and win the thriller against the unlucky Deccan Chargers. Second time also it involved Deccan Chargers but it didn't have any impact on the result of the match.

IPL controversy 5

Even after the Kingfisher fair play award that has been clubbed with the tournament that rewards the team for playing cricket according the rules of the game, Yes rules of the game that are violated a lot these days like arguing with the umpires, sledging the opposition, the players continue to sledge opposition with Umar Gul and Sree Shanth leading the way. In the last match between Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders, Umar Gul had a lot to say to Rohit Sharma. Sreeshanth also crossed the limit against Kaif. Adding to it there have been couple of instances of players arguing with Umpires over their decision and forcing them to refer it to third umpire. Ganguly, the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders and Shewag, captain of Delhi Daredevils have been culprit of doing it.

IPL controversy 6

In the match between Delhi Daredevils and Deccan Chargers, the match was stopped at a very crucial point in the 19th Over when Shewag complained to the umpires that the crowd is throwing stones at him. In the press conference instead of looking happy over the victory, he looked very upset because of this incident. The reason may be that for the second time in a row Shewag failed to fire. He made a golden duck last night and at that point in the 19th over of the second innings it looked like Deccan Chargers might pull off a victory.

IPL controversy 7

In the press conference, Deccan Chargers captain Adam Gilchrist questioned the tactics of V Shewag of substituting Mohammad Asif immediately after he had bowled 2 overs and replacing him with one of the best fielders in the team, Shoaib Malik. He came onto bowl his last 2 overs and umpires didn't stop Shewag from using him. There was already another substitute on the field for Delhi. AB de Villiers for their opener Gautam Gambhir who had injured his knee while batting. De Villers is also among the best fielders in the cricket today. What could have irked Adam Gilchrist was that as many as 4 catches were taken by these subs and all of them of set batsmen.

IPL controversy 8

Now there are rumours going around that Shah Rukh Khan wants to sell off his Kolkata Knight Riders. He is irked with the kind of ego that Ganguly is showing. Ganguly wants to be the king of Knight Riders while Shah Rukh Khan feels that he along with the coach should be making most of the decisions like what happens in Football.

IPL controversy 9

Home crowd is definitely supposed to support the home team and in doing that the crowd at most of the places has forgotten that most of the players playing against their home team belong to India as well. This has happened mostly in Kolkota and Mumbai. They have been abusing the opposition a lot and that should not be accepted at any cost. Organizers should come forward and take responsibility to address this issue. In the post match ceremony Yuvraj did a very good job of telling the people to respect the players from the opposition team. The Punjab Kings XI skipper sent a strong message to the Mumbai crowd which had been abusive to his players throughout the match.

IPL controversy 10

Last but not the least, there has been a controversy surrounding the presence of cheer-leaders on the ground. The owner of the Bangalore Royal Challengers, Vijay Mallya, started the trend of keeping the cheer-leaders with the team and others followed. While Vijay Mallya hired the services of the popular cheer leader group from Washington, RedSkin, Deccan Chargers hired cheer leaders from Australia. Some outsourced it to Indian Cheer leader and others to UK. There was a lot of hue and cry about the dressing of these cheer leaders. They were finally made to wear so called decent looking clothes by the moral brigade of Mumbai.After all this was done came another news of racial abuse directed towards the dark skinned cheer leaders. Two London-based dark-skinned cheer girls, who were hired by the Kings XI Punjab team, through event management company Wizcraft International Entertainment, have alleged that they were asked to sit out just before the April 19 match of the IPL played in Mohali because they were not white.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Even before the first ball has been bowled in the most crucial IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders at Mumbai, Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray once again declared that the Pakistanis are the enemies of the entire Indian Nation and they should not be allowed to play here. Kolkata Knight Riders has got two fast bowlers from Pakistan :- Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul and both have done considerably well in the current tournament.

In the last match between Delhi Daredevils and Deccan Chargers, the match was stopped at a very crucial point in the 19th Over when Shewag complained to the umpires that the crowd is throwing stones at him. In the press conference instead of looking happy over the victory, he looked very upset because of this incident. The reason may be that for the second time in a row Shewag failed to fire. He made a golden duck last night and at that point in the 19th over of the second innings it looked like Deccan Chargers might pull off a victory.

In the press conference, Deccan Chargers captain Adam Gilchrist questioned the tactics of V Shewag of substituting Mohammad Asif immediately after he had bowled 2 overs and replacing him with one of the best fielders in the team, Shoaib Malik. He came onto bowl his last 2 overs and umpires didn't stop Shewag from using him. There was already another substitute on the field for Delhi. AB de Villiers for their opener Gautam Gambhir who had injured his knee while batting. De Villers is also among the best fielders in the cricket today. What could have irked Adam Gilchrist was that as many as 4 catches were taken by these subs and all of them of set batsmen.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

As expected, Jaipur will host the match between the home team, Rajasthan Royals, and Bangalore Royal Challengers. I am amazed at the way the media twists the statements made by celebrities to add masala in order to increase their TRP. Warne and Smith would have told that they were in the same location where the bomb exploded and it is quite fearful. Media has been reporting since morning that Smith and Warne would not be returning to Jaipur from Goa where they are holidaying.

It forced the IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi to come on air and make it clear that match at Jaipur is on and not even a single cricketer is talking about backing out of the tournament. It is media that is just speculating with headlines such as" Jaipur scares Warne, other international players"

1st leg result :- Delhi Daredevils won by 9 wickets (with 42 balls remaining)Key Performers in last leg :-Deccan Chargers :- Rohit Sharma made 66 last time these team metDelhi Daredevils :- V Shewag made 94 in 41 balls with 10 fours and 6 sixes. He scored 30 runs in a single over from A Symonds. 646464 - thats how Symond's overs looked like.

The dream to see Jaysurya and Sachin open for the same team finally came true after a long wait and it didn't dissapoint the supporters. Mumbai Indians thrashed Chennai Super Kings by 9 wickets and with more than 6 overs to spare. Set to win 157, Mumbai Indians reached their target in 13.5 Overs and loosing only Sachin Tendulkar' s wicket.

Dhoni and Badrinath made sizeable contribution from Chennai's team. Badrinath made his second fifty(53) of the tournament and Dhoni made 43. Set to win 158, Mumbai Indians started in rockling fashion with Jaysurya in a punishing mood. He made 114 in 48 deliveries with 9 fours and 11 sixes. Tendulkar, playing his first match of the IPL, looked off color and made 12 in 16 deliveries with a six and a four. He was bowled by an in-cutter from Joginder Sharma, the way he has been bowled out the maximum times.

Jaysurya was declared the man of the match for his match wining performance. Mumbai Indians have started their second leg on a good note and with this win Mumbai Indians have got 8 points and are tied on points with Delhi Daredevils. For sure it is going to be a nice fight for top 4.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

There are chances that the match between Rajasthan Royals and Bangalore Royal challengers might be shifted to Bangalore after 8 bomb blasts rocked the pink city, Jaipur. The Rajasthan Royals, which is based out of Jaipur is currently in Goa to keep themself fresh and energised for the rest of the tournament. Franchises will make the decision tomorrow. Rajasthan Royals met Bangalore Royal Challengers in the first leg of the IPL in Bangalore and defeated the hosts comfortably by 7 wickets.

Shoaib Akhtar on his IPL debut has given a very good chance to pull of a victory in the match number 35 between Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils.Shoaib Akhtar has so far taken 4 wickets for 11 in 3 overs.His victims so far includeGautam Ghambir c Hussey b Shoaib AkhtarShewag c Saha b Shoaib AkhtarDe Villiers c Taibu b Shoaib AkhtarTiwary lbw b Shoaib Akhtar

Lets see if the lower order of Delhi Daredevils can pull of the victory. It is for the first time that they are under so much of pressure. Delhi Daredevils are currently below Knight Riders on point table. They need to win this one to improve their chances of making to the top four.

According to the latest reports, 5 reserve players of Kolkata Knight Riders have been released from their duty. The coach of the team, John Buchanan, feels that these guys have not got even a single game so far in the IPL and they dont have any chance of getting one in the remaining tournament. The five players who have been relieved of their duty are Ranadeb Bose, Sourashish Lahiri, Rohan Banerjee, Cheteswar Pujara and Yashpal Singh .It has also been reported that these guys will not loose any fees that they were supposed to get if they would have been part of the team.

It looks like the coach wants to concentrate on less number of players. Let’s hope his vision helps in achieving results for the knight riders.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Vijay Mallya, the owner of Bangalore Royal Challengers, has finally accepted that his team infact is a test team. The day IPL was launched he had come on air and re-iterated that his team is not a test team and will perform well in the tournament. He had earlier sacked Charu Sharma, the CEO of Bangalore Royal Challengers. To read more about it click here.He wanted to sack the coach of the team, Venkatesh Prasad, as well but timely intervention by Rahul Dravid saved him.

After the dismal performance by the Royal Challengers, Vijay Mallya has accepted that he had a different list of players whom he wanted in the team but he went according to what Rahul told him. According to Mallya , the ex-CEO Charu Sharma always backed Rahul in the team selection so he took the backseat.

It is upon Rahul Dravid to inspire his team to come up with match winning performances if they don't want to face the anger of Vijay Mallya.

Rajasthan Royals beat Delhi Daredevils to avenge their loss in the first half of the tournament. Rajasthan Royals playing at their home ground where they have not lost even a single game started of well. First Shane Warne guessed the spin of the coin correctly and choose to field. The bowlers bowled a very good line from the beginning and gave very less away. Delhi Daredevils could only manage 156, thanks to Maharoof who clubbed Shane Warne's last over ( 19th of the inning) for 27 runs including 4 sixes.Chasing 157 to win, the Rajasthan Royals didn't start of well with score reading 15-2 in 5 overs - the lowest score in the first 5 overs of the inning so far in IPL. Smith and Man of the match Watson combined well to add 71 in next 5 overs before Smith got out. Watson continued to score freely and made 74 in 40 balls that included 5 fours and same number of sixes before he was run out. His dismissal created another controversy in the IPL. Steeve Davis, the field umpire, refused to direct the decision to third umpire and declared Watson not out. After seeing the replay on the big screen, Shewag questioned the decision and forced the umpire to go for the 3rd umpire and Watson was declared out. Emerging Media, the owner of Rajasthan Royals, have decided to file a complaint against Shewag for arguing with the umpire, not respecting the verdict of the umpire and forcing the umpire to refer the decision to the 3rd umpire. Rajasthan Royals suffered few hiccups towards the end but finally sealed the victory of the first ball of the last over. This team has showed how a team game should be played. They are sitting pretty of top of the points table and sure of a place in the semi-finals. They can now relax for 4 days in Goa and enjoy the beaches and the sun.

In the 32nd match of the IPL between Kolkata Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers, Deccan Chargers again failed to click as a team. There performance while batting, bowling and especially fielding were below par. The bowlers sprayed the ball all around the pitch and the fielders never gave any kind of support to their bowlers and leaked a lot of runs. The last ball of the innings by RP Singh summed up the effort of Deccan Chargers on the field. He took the throw from the fielder and fired the ball at the batting end where no one was there to collect it and it went for 4 over throws. 6 runs came of the last ball and 17 from the last over.

Gilchrist started of well while chasing but took too many risks. He was very nicely setup by Ganguly. Dinda kept bowling short balls to Gilly and he failed to get hold of one of the pull and was caught by Ganguly. Both bowling and fielding from Knight Riders were much better than that of Deccan Chargers and that made the difference. Venugopal did his best to bring his team near the target of 205.

The highlight of the match was definitely the partnership between Ganguly and David Hussey. They put on 102 runs in 8 overs. Ganguly started slowly but after reaching his 50, he dealt only with sixes and hit as many as 5.

In the 31st match of the IPL Chennai Super Kings showed that they are definitely super and defeated the kings from Punjab. In the first half of the tournament, Hussey single -handedly took the match away from Punjab Kings XI. After the 3 international stars, Hayden, Hussey and Oram, left the Chennai Super Kings they lost 3 straight matches and Dhoni had to do something different. Dhoni took few matches to try out different things especially at the top order. He has finally been successful in coming up with a winning combination. They have won now 6 matches in 9 matches and stand second the points table.He has also improved his batting average in the tournament and is placed 3rd in the list of top scorers in the tournament. He has also started to show glimpses of his cool and composed captaincy that he showed in the world cup.The competition for the top 4 is really hot now with 6 teams in the fray: Punjab Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians.

Deccan Chargers and Bangalore Royal Challengers would have to win all the remaining matches to have a chance of qualifying and that is looking very difficult now.

Ever smiling Laksmipathy Balaji took the first hat trick of IPL. His victims who helped him to get the feat are Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla and VRV Singh. He had the final figures of 24-5 in 4 overs.His other victims include Shaun Marsh and Ramnaresh Sarvan.

After slapping Harbhajan Singh with a ban of 11 IPL matches, there is every chance that he might get a severe ban from BCCI. It has been difficult for BCCI to handle Harbhajan Singh from the beginning of his international career as there have been numerous complaints against him from all quarters.

Recently he was involved in a Monkey-gate scam where he got timely support from his team members especially Sachin Tendulkar. People wonder why Sachin supports Harbhajan so much. He even preferred Harbhajan Singh over seasoned campaigner like Pollock for captaincy of Mumbai Indians. The irony is that under the captaincy of Pollock only Mumbai Indians have shown some resilience and spirit to win matches.Coming back to the behavior of Harbhajan Singh on-field and outside the field has been nothing but shocking and embarrassing for the home board and the national team that has always supported him in all the situations. I feel the recent slap-gate case against Harbhajan Singh should be handled very carefully as this incident has made a mockery of BCCI in Australia with Australian media bringing to frontline the incidents that happened in the recent Indian tour of Australia and the way they were dictated by the cricket-power house, BCCI. It is high time that BCCI takes a tough stand and sends out a strong statement that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated any more. A ban for a year will be more than welcomed by all quarters of cicket loving people.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Rajasthan continued to impress everyone in this tournament. They thrashed Deccan Chargers by 8 wickets at Jaipur.Chasing 141 to win, Rajasthan Royals were given great start by its opener Yusuf and Smith. Yusuf made a quickfire 68 while Smith played a good supporting role and made 40. In the first innings, Deccan Chargers were also given very good start by Gilly and Gibbsy. At one point Deccan Chargers were cruising at 97-2 in 13.2 Overs when Gilly got out and then the middle order went crashing only to be salvaged by quick fire 23 in 11 balls by Venugopal. In the last 6 Overs Deccan Chargers could only manage partlry 43 while loosing 6 wickets. Score of 140 was going to be easy on such a good pitch and was overcome by Royal Rajasthan in style with 4 overs to spare and loosing only 2 wickets.

Another match and another loss for the Bangalore Royal Challengers. I am amazed looking at the way the Bangalore Royal Challengers approached the target of 130 in 16overs. They were slow from the onset. It is difficult to loose 10 wickets in 16 Overs. So instead of preserving their wickets for the final on-slaught they should have gone all out from the beginning. The Bangalore Royal Challengers left the charge till the very end and by that time the required rate had gone up to 14 an over. It is a known fact that the new batsmen coming to the crease will not be able to score at such a high rate. Though Camroon White did his best still the team lost by 5 runs.

The final score card of the Bangalore Royal Challengers read as 124-4 in 16 overs. It would have been better if it would have read 130-9 in 16 overs.

Rahul Dravid again showed that he is a mis-fit in this type of cricket. He wasted 11 balls to score 5 runs. His captaincy also came under poor light. Why did he come 2 down when there were better hitters of the ball after him? They could have done the damage early on so that he could have just played his natural game to win the match for the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Now after this loss Rahul Dravid is still talking about the josh of the Bangalore Royal Challengers and about their belief that they can make a comeback in this edition of the IPL.

For that to happen Vijay Malay will have to put all his weight on Lalit Modi to make some changes to the rules for the matches involving the Royal Challengers

1. The Bangalore Royal Challengers should get 30 overs to bat and their opponents should get only 15 overs

2. Power play should be there for all the 30 overs when Bangalore royal challengers bat.

3. Their batsmen allowed to bat twice in a match and the last man can also bat

4. Bangalore Royal Challengers can have more than 4 foreign players. This is one favor that Rahul Dravid has been asking for quite long.

5. Their final score should be doubled.

6. The Bangalore Royal Challengers get 4 points if they win and 2 if they loose.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Lalit Modi, the brain behind Indian Premier League, has made it very clear that ICON players can be dropped or can be bought by other franchises. I feel there are more chances of ICON players being dropped except Yuvraj and Sehwag. No franchise will be willing to pay close to 4 crore to get the likes of Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and VVS Lakshman in their team.

In fact Rahul and Lakshman are among the top scorers from their side but the problem is that these guys are not good leaders. After resigning as the captain of Indian team, Rahul should not have taken up the captaincy of Bangalore Royal Challengers. The team Royal Challengers is more of a challenge outside the field (to its owner and CEO )rather than to the opposition. The part of the blame should definitely go to the captain and to his team selection.

The case of Saurav Ganguly is entirely different. He was and is afraid of fast bowlers and keeps getting out to them quite regularly. He has not been able to score at all in this edition of IPL so far. His captaincy is lacking and he is no longer showing the confidence as he used to when he was at the helm of Indian team.

VVS Lakshman looks lost on the field. It is Gilly who looks to be making more decisions on the field. One could see the way Deccan Chargers performed under Gilly. They had the confidence and desire to win the match that was lacking in the team in the previous matches.

All these ICON players never appreciated the fact that Indians are the world champion in T20 format of cricket. No one including Sachin Tendulkar came out to appreciate the young Indian team that won the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. Every now and then, these people keep trying to undermine the achievements of the youngsters in this format of cricket. This is what Saurav Ganguly said on the way youngsters have out performed seniors, includng himself. "Let's not jump up and down too much at their performance in Twenty20. As a player, I'd love to see them perform in five dayers and 50-over games. That's where the real test lies". Is this what is expected from a veteran like Saurav Ganguly. Who would want a guy like him to be the captain of their team? Youngsters would not be able to perform at all under this kind of leader. This is a 180 degree shift for a person who once used to support and encourage youngsters. The reason being that he has understood that his days in the world of cricket are numbered, he is trying to save his ass.

Players like Nayar from Mumbai Indians, Asnodkar from Rajasthan Royals have done really well in this edition of IPL. It would be in the interest of franchises owners to catch these kinds of talents as they have contributed same or more than ICON players for fees that is way less than what ICON players are getting. This will also help in improving the cricket in India as these so far unknown guys will get chance to rub their shoulders with the best of international and national cricketers like Gilly, Shane Waney, Pollock, Yuvraj and many more.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

IPL has claimed its first casualty in the form of IIMA alumunus- Charu Sharma. Though Charu Sharma has cited personal reasons for stepping down from the post of the CEO of the Royal Ducks oops Challengers media and people are sure that the poor performance of Vijay Malay's Bangalore Royal Ducks in the first edition of IPL is the main reason behind his decision.

Charu Sharma, along with Rahul Dravid, was responsible for picking up the squad of Royal Challengers. He was seen boasting on television that he will be in the Mumbai stadium with his team on June 1st for the finals. This was just after the Bangalore Royal Challengers secured their second win in the tournament against Deccan Chargers. During the inauguration ceremony at Bangalore, Dr. Vijay Mallya also re-iterated that his team is not a test team and will perform well in the tournament.

According to me these comments in the public and the disastrous tournament The Royal Challengers have had so far may have convinced Charu to take the blame for the team's performance and to step down.

Next in the firing line, I am sure will be Venkatesh Prasad, the coach for the Bangalore Royal "Ducks".

Already lost last 2 matches, Chennai Super Kings could only manage paltry 144-7 in their innings. With Decaan chargers boasting of players like Gibbs, Gilchrist, Styris and Afridi this might not be enough total. Although Deccan Chargers have lost 5 out of 6 matches that they played one can't rule out a team boasting of these great super stars.

I feel Deccan Chargers are going to win easily unless Murali can do some magic.

Once again the costliest player of the tournament failed with the bat. Dhoni struggled against the spin of Ojha and could only make scratchy 23 in 31 balls. This score is extremely poor for this type of tournament. Even veterans such as Rahul Dravid and VVS Lakshman scored at the strike rate of over 100 and showed that this game not only for youngsters as described by many pundits.

Even after playing cricket at the highest level for over a decade, the captain of IPL Kolkota Knight Riders is afraid of fast bowlers. He made sure that he has almost all the bowlers currently in the game who can bowl over 150KmpH in his team - Shoaib Akhtar, Ishant Sharma and to some extent Umar Gul.

He also very well knew that players from Australian team will be leaving early to prepare for the tour of West Indies so he will not have to face Bret Lee in any of the match and players from South Africa will be joining in late so he will miss Dale Steyn. Quite smart I should say :)

How many of us remember the way Saurav Ganguly danced to the music of Shoaib Akhtar when India played against Pakistan at Mohali in 1999?

Saurav Ganguly made scratchy 57 in more than 90 balls and was hit on his helmet and chest more than once by balls hurled by Shoaib Akhtar.

Shoaib Akhtar spell in that match read

Shoaib Akhtar 10 1 18 2

Monday, May 5, 2008

Vijay Malaya's Bangalore Royal Challengers delivered royal ducks, not just 1 but 5, last night at their home ground. Two ducks were delivered in the very first over, extra styilish test match opener Wasim Jaffer was caught behind and T20 specialist from Australia, White was bowled by Sreesanth. After this shocking start the Royal Challengers were never able to recover and posted 126 in 19.2 overs.

Other ducks in the inning were Kallis, fooled by India's under-19 captain Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan falling to the guiles of Piyush Chawla.

Result:- Kings XI Punjab won by 6 wickets and it is Game Over for Bangalore Royal Challengers :(

Dhoni, captain of The Chennai Super Stars, has decided to keep a moustache. Tamilians generally keep a moustache as part of their tradition. Looks like this has inspired Dhoni to sport a one giving him a completely new and different look. I believe this is his way of either showing respect towards the place that houses the headquarters of his team - Chennai or trying to alleviate the worries of the people of Tamil Nadu, who have paid 6 crore rupees to "buy" him as the captain of their team.

Dhoni has not been a success in this tournament so far. Shane Warne who got 6 times less money than MS Dhoni has excelled with the bat, the ball and has been far better than MS Dhoni in captaincy.

But all kudos to MS Dhoni for trying to take the easy route into the heart of Tamilians. However Mr. Dhoni you need to do something better than this and this time on the field!!!

Today's match is going to decide if Bangalore Royal Challengers are going to pose a threat to teams like Rajasthan Royals, Jaipur and Delhi Daredevils in the current edition of IPL.

Only if Bangalore royal challengers can defeat Kings X1 that it can continue to hope to qualify for the semifinals in Mumbai. For Bangalore Royal Chanllengers bowlers hold the key with Dale Steyn, Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan showing good form in the previous match against Deccan Chargers. If they are able to control the run flow from the likes of Marsh, Sangakarra and Yuvraj, Royal Challengers will have a good chance of winning the game and climbing to the third position from bottom.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

The hearing of Rawalpindi Express has been postponed by a month and he is available for IPL now. This news will give a ray of hope to supporters of Kolkata Knight Riders lead by Saurav Ganguly. Shahrukh Khan, who owns Knight Rider, has surely played a big role in getting this decision. He is badly missing extra fire power but does the inclusion of a maverick who has not played a single match for last few months boost the prospects of Knight Riders in the IPL. Will he really make an impact?

Ntini bowls a short of length ball but not short enough to pull. Smith goes for a pull but ball came to him too fast. The ball takes the edge lobs up in the air to mid-on where Joginder Sharma gets under the ball to catch it. In the words of great Navjot Singh Sidhu the ball went so high that it could have kissed the air hostess.

The catch was so easy and Smith believed in the catching abilities of the T20 last over expert, Joginder Sharma that he starts the "long way back towards pavilion" but to the shock of Chennai fans, Joginder Sharma "didn't watch the ball into his hand" and drops the dolly and the match.

This reminds me of the famous line said by the great Steven Waugh to Gibbs in the world cup match where Gibbs drops the ball before controlling it and starts celebrating the wicket of Steve Waugh and Steve Waugh was rightly declared Not Out - " Mate you dropped the world cup ". Steve Waugh won the match for Australia and that win latter on decided the outcome of the famous tied semi-final match between South Africa and Australia.

Catches do win matches, But in the IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super King do you think this catch would have made a difference. I doubt !! What about you

Sohail Tanvir started the first over with 2 LBWs victims in the form of Stephen Flemming and Partiv Patel. Then he ended his spell with 2 more wickets. I feel nobody will be able to achieve a better figure in T20 cricket except if we get another wicket as difficult as was in Kolkota. It is ging to be very very difficult for bowler to get 6 or more wickets in T20, which is evident from the fact that nobody has taken 5 wickets in T20 before Tanvir's figure of 6 for 14.

Best figure before this performance was that of another player from Pakistan - Shahid Afridi - 4/19